Graham Nathaniel McLeish was born in Glasgow, Scotland to Mary McLeish and an unidentified sailing scallywag — a scallywag intent on stealing Mary’s young heart and innocence. Although she was a hardworking and caring mother, society’s standards at the end of the 19th century left Mary scorned for the “sins” of her youth and branded Graham with a label that could callous the gentlest of souls.

At the age of fifteen (although, claiming to be seventeen) Graham entered His Majesty’s Merchant Marine, setting sail on a freighter bound for Canadian shores. Once he had made his way to North America, Graham jumped ship and joined a crew transporting goods up the beckoning St. Lawrence River. His travels took him to exotic ports on the Great Lakes — Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, and the equally enticing Sarnia and Port Huron.”

It was on one of these excursions to Sarnia when the immaturity of his youth (and demon rum) reached out to rearrange Graham’s unstructured life. A barroom brawl lodged him in Sarnia’s finest dungeon. The brief (but seemingly eternal) overnight incarceration was just long enough to cause him to miss his freighter (and awaiting pay) back down river.

Sober and released from internment, Graham returned to the scene of the previous night’s debacle. Taking stock of his predicament, he approached the pub owner asking for any work that might be available. Providence and the goodwill of the proprietor were on his side. Yes, he could work for food and lodging. He could stay in a small room above the bar and could literally work until his ship came in.

Quickly, Graham endeared himself to Joshua Hampton, the owner of the Harbour Inn, and was soon a valued member of Hampton’s very limited staff. Joshua tended bar, a local woman acted as serving wench, and Graham did everything else. By the time Graham was nineteen, he was second in command of the small, but growing, pub.

More importantly, he was becoming number one in the eyes of Joshua Hampton’s eldest daughter, Rebecca. However, Joshua Hampton felt his daughter was destined for a higher level of society than Graham McLeish could provide. Hampton refused to allow his young protégé the honor of courting his daughter.

Determined to do the right thing, Graham and Rebecca eloped to the U.S. and married as quickly as possible. Once in the states, Graham took the knowledge he had gleaned from his former boss (and new father-in law), and purchased a small pub in Port Huron. Of course, Joshua Hampton saw none of this as “doing the right thing.”

Several years into Graham’s fledgling ownership of the struggling bistro, a fire of questionable origin destroyed the bar. Fortunately, Graham had the foresight to invest in a relatively new concept in the early 20th century — insurance. Also fortunate was the woeful lack of forensic science. Sensing the winds of change, and the approach of Prohibition, he took his wife, and now two young daughters, to the beckoning hub-bub of Chicago. There he would search for the right opportunity.

Opportunity put Graham in cahoots with Chicago’s most notorious mobsters. Chicago was a lucrative town, and Graham opened a speak-easy on the upper north side. Although the bulk of his treasures were promised to his silent “partner,” there was still plenty of money left over to shelter his growing family in comfort.  However, events in a garage on St. Valentine’s Day tore gaping holes in that comfort.

Graham and Rebecca took their now three young daughters and made a rapid retreat from the excitement of Chicago, back to the calm of Michigan’s Thumb region. There, he turned to sugar beet farming. Agriculture was not as adventurous as sailing the high seas, offered no excitement like owning a speak-easy during Prohibition, and it was highly speculative with no promise of financial reward — but it was safe.

Graham, Rebecca, and their now four young daughters, traveled back to Canada for a visit with Rebecca’s ailing father. As Joshua Hampton lay on his deathbed, he looked up at the daughter who had left him so many years before, and smiled. He gazed upon his four beautiful granddaughters, his smile grew brighter, his features softened, and his eyes moistened. Turning slowly toward Graham, his eyes steeled and his smile froze. Finally, another smile crossed his face, this time harsh and accusing. Joshua rose slightly and whispered his last words, “Now you know what it’s like…you son-of-a-….”